Bottas (left) and Hamilton were able to look forward to the front row of the grid
Qualifying for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Portugal in Portimao became a matter for Mercedes on Saturday. Pole position at the third round of the World Championship this season on Sunday (4.00 p.m. / live Servus TV and Sky) went to Valtteri Bottas, the Finn thwarted his teammate Lewis Hamilton's attempt at the 100th pole. The world championship leader missed first place on the grid by just seven thousandths of a second. Third, Max Verstappen was annoyed.
The Dutchman's supposedly fastest lap, which would have meant pole position, had previously been canceled because he had exceeded the track limits. The Red Bull driver would have been more than a tenth faster than Bottas if the jury had let time stand still. It is not clear whether Verstappen really took advantage of his driving outlier.
Not only Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko denied this. “Turn 4, he got a gust of wind from behind, that carried him out. He lost time, not gained”, said the Styrian at Servus TV. “It's tragic. To be in third place with pole position is not what we expected.” Verstappen pointed out that the driving experience was generally not that good after the first anger had subsided: “It was very difficult to drive in qualifying. I struggled with the grip. It wasn't ideal.”
The Mexican Sergio Perez starts fourth in the second Red Bull racing car on Sunday. Behind them are Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lando Norris (McLaren), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri). Finally, Sebastian Vettel rounds off the top ten on the grid. After 15 unsuccessful attempts, the German made it back into the final qualifying round for the first time and finally drove his Aston Martin to tenth place.
Bottas was delighted with his 17th pole position after being scolded two weeks ago in Imola after a wild crash with Williams driver George Russell. “It feels good to be on pole! It felt like a while ago,” said the Finn. “Qualifying was one of my weaknesses recently, but we worked hard over the weekend.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was also satisfied. “All the years that Valtteri has been with us, we see these performances”, the Viennese praised his protégé. If Bottas has enough self-confidence, “then he has the speed”. In the championship standings, defending champion Hamilton leads one point ahead of Verstappen after two races. The Briton also applauded: “Great job from Valtteri”. From himself it was “not the perfect lap, but I gave everything”.
Red Bull and Mercedes are currently not only engaged in a tough duel on the track, apart from that, the competition is in the high-rev range. The background to this is that Red Bull has invested heavily in the development program for its own engine and has recruited former experts from Mercedes for this purpose. The previous week, for example, the engagement of Ben Hodgkinson was announced, who will act as technical director in the newly created company Red Bull Powertrains. Before that, he held a managerial position in the engine department of Mercedes AMG.
Against this background, atmospheric disturbances are increasing. At the team bosses' press conference in Portimao, Wolff speculated about a future Formula 1 partnership between Red Bull and the Volkswagen Group, the two of whom had already worked together in the rally sector. “It could stay within Red Bull, or you could go to Porsche or Audi. In general, I think it makes sense what you are doing,” said Wolff. The answer from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner a little later: “Toto always likes to think that he knows what is going on in other companies. Maybe he should think of his own.”
